Toowoomba airport coronavirus quarantine camp in danger of stalling

The Palaszczuk government’s proposal to use a privately built camp near Toowoomba to quarantine international arrivals is at an impasse.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: Dan Peled

The Palaszczuk government’s proposal to use a privately built camp near Toowoomba to quarantine international arrivals is at an impasse, with the federal and state governments unable to agree on who would run it if it went ahead.

Despite support from tourism, tertiary education and agriculture industry bodies, the mooted alternative to using inner-city ­hotels for quarantine is floundering over the lack of basic details about how it would operate.

Businessman John Wagner has offered to build the 1000-room facility next to his Wellcamp Airport at his company’s own cost and charge the government a capped fee per person staying in the accommodation, which would be refunded by the user.

The Palaszczuk government, which first raised the idea and asked Mr Wagner to make a submission about what the facility would look like and the cost to government, has not provided ­details to the commonwealth about how it would operate, federal sources said.

That included a lack of detail on ­operational management, and critical health, ­security and safety details.

The plan did not include contingencies for people in quarantine who tested positive for the virus. On Wednesday, Premier ­Annastacia Palaszczuk said travellers diagnosed with COVID-19 in the Toowoomba quarantine hub would be taken by ambulance to a Brisbane hospital.

She defended the amount of information provided to the federal government and said quarantine was not just a state responsibility.

“It’s a bit rich for the commonwealth to be rejecting, and saying it’s a state’s responsibility,” she said. “We’re working very closely with the commonwealth … there is dialogue that is happening, but we would like to see — now that you’ve seen Victoria (and WA looking at regional quarantine) … it makes sense. Our hotels were not meant to be controlling infectious diseases.”

Her comments contradicted those of Scott Morrison, who has repeatedly defended the use of hotels for quarantine, citing a small number of outbreaks from more than 200,000 international arrivals since the start of the pandemic. It is understood the Prime Minister had a meeting about the proposal on Tuesday.

Mr Morrison has already ­rejected the Palaszczuk government’s proposal to quarantine ­returned travellers at a mining camp near Gladstone.

Queensland this week raised its capacity on international ­arrivals to 1000 a week after lowering the intake in January following an outbreak linked to a cleaner working in a quarantine hotel in Brisbane. The cleaner contracted the UK strain of the virus and passed it on to her husband, prompting a snap three-day lockdown of the city.

Toowoomba-based Groom MP Garth Hamilton said he was concerned the state government was not being clear about who would manage the facility.

On Tuesday, when asked if there would be community consultation about the proposal, Deputy Premier Steven Miles said: “This would be a national quarantine facility run by the federal government, so you need to ask them how they intend to ­engage with the community.”

Mr Hamilton said the lack of information was creating concern in the community. “This is the Premier’s plan. Queensland is proposing it, not the federal government,” he said.

A federal government spokesman said the commonwealth was “happy to work with the Queensland government on assessing their proposal” but had only ­received limited details.